Winter Solstice 2011


The drums are dusted off, food is being cooked and folks are starting to show up, Happy Yule and a Blessed Solstice!
 
I had planned a little private "party" for it, but is did not quite materialise as I planned...
 
The "Penobscot " are planning tonight But freezing rain and cold temps may cause some issues.
 
We usually light a small fire but it has POURED rain all day! So, indoor candles, libations, and great food!!!

We do little homemade traditions. The neighbors objected to me dancing "bare-buttons" in the yard!!! ;-)
 
I always try and mention such things to my son. Get him used to slow time. I want him to understand seasonal time spans. I try to show him the constellations change throughout the year. I have been mentioning how the sun isn't up yet till after he is off to school. Now I will start explaining how it is up sooner as the days progress.

He and I went and watched the sunrise on the summer solstice this year and he thought it was pretty cool. It may have been the donuts afterwards that he really liked. :)
 
Interesting fact: The origins of Christmas have nothing to do with Christ's birth but originated with the pre-Christian Roman celebration of dies natalis Solis Invicti (the birthday of the invincible sun) celebrated at the time of the winter solstice as days started growing longer from this day onward. Sun worship not son worship. ;)
 
A harbinger of another year to prep and practice and play.
Best wishes to you all. I'll be celebrating in a private way here, but with you all in spirit.
 
We are going to miss it by a day, but all well. A bunch of friends and I are having a bonfire festival tomorrow night, with a twist on the Yule Log for a competition. We're going to have everyone go out into the woods and bring back the biggest log they can to put on the fire. (I live on 160 acres of private property, so trees aren't an issue...) Doing a little bit of bushcrafty stuff with making a few log benches during the day and whatever else we feel like. We've got a ham on standby to go onto the spit. And apple cider to stay warm over the fire.

Hopefully it'll be a fun night. And perhaps I can convince a few of my friends to get into bushcraft, even if they don't know they're doing it. ;)
 
Happy Yule to all concerned...which, admittedly, includes every living thing on planet Earth:D

PMZ
 
Happy Yule indeed! My parents are on their way from California for the holidays and should be arriving sometime tonight, so I'm making a fire this evening and hope to keep it going until they pull in. Thankfully, I spent last weekend cutting up branches the roofing people cut down a couple months ago. Should be nice and dry now.

:41:
 
We went from just a tad over 15hrs of daylight back in June to just under 9 hrs yesterday, thank goodness the days start getting longer again.
 
Blessed Yule! Our own tradition involves the Yule log. Each year we have a camp fire and a piece of charred wood is kept from that fire to help start the following year's fire. In this way the fire is always continued. Each Yule log must be gifted from someone. We decorate it and put in small pieces of paper with a single wish for the upcoming year. We've been doing this since 2008 and it's a fun family time.
 
I observed solstice by splitting a whack of firewood and enjoying some time outdoors. I am always pleased to see winter solstice even though the coldest weather is still to come, the days will get longer and that's always a welcome event!
 
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